September 7 2018 - WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

Main News Topics

 

New AMD Zen + Radeon Vega CPU for $55

Source 1: The Benjamins https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/969081-new-amd-zenvega-cpu-for-55/

Source 2: https://www.amd.com/en/processors/athlon-and-a-series

 

• AMD is billing this as its most advanced entry-level CPU ever - branded as an Athlon chip

• Two cores, four threads

• AMD says it can handle 720p gaming for eSports-type titles

• Two additional models will be released later this year

• Will directly compete against Intel’s 2/4 Pentium Gold lineup, which has a base model retailing for $5 less - so AMD isn’t really undercutting Intel, but clearly wants to be more competitive in the entry-level space after focusing on higher-end Ryzen chips

Microsoft will continue to support Windows 7...if you can pay

Source 1:

https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-announcement/damien-cox/microsoft-adds-another-three-years-of-security-updates-for-windows-7-for-a-price/

 

Source 2: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/06/windows_7_extended_support/

 

• Although Windows 7 extended support is scheduled to go through January 2020, you now have an option to extend it to 2023

• However, you’ll have to pay a fee for the additional security patches. No details available yet on pricing.

• As far as we can tell, this is the first time Microsoft has offered pay-to-play support outside of the end of its standard support lifecycle for Windows

• Tons of people are still running Windows 7 for various reasons, whether they be ease of use, stability, or compatibility with certain programs.

• 40 percent of all Windows systems are still running Windows 7

• We feel this might be a consequence of Microsoft failing to get people to migrate to Win10 as quickly as they would have liked

 

Second Razer phone confirmed

Source 1: https://www.cnet.com/news/a-razer-phone-2-is-officially-on-the-way/

Source 2: https://www.techradar.com/news/razer-phone-2-spotted-with-snapdragon-845-and-8gb-of-ram

 

• Phone was confirmed by Razer’s latest financial report

• Razer has also been slashing prices on the first-gen phone

• Phone will be quite powerful according to benchmarks

• Like the first gen phone, it will have 8 gigs of RAM, but the SoC is getting an upgrade to the flagship Snapdragon 845 from Qualcomm, so it’ll go from 4 cores to 8

• The phone appeared on Geekbench with a single core score of 2026 and a multi-core score of 8234 - better than the first-gen model, but not as high as flagships like the iPhone X and Galaxy S9

• But there may be more “gamer-centric” features, such as a fast display, that may help to appeal more to its target demographic

 

What’s Coming Out on Floatplane? Go Over Current Week.

Rapid Fire

New Steam filters to hide certain games in search

Source 1: https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126

Source 2: https://www.pcmag.com/news/363572/valve-adds-adult-only-game-filter-to-steam

• Earlier this year it was announced that Steam would allow “controversial” titles to be on the platform, such as adult games

• However, users also have more flexibility to hide things they don’t want when searching for games

• Users now will be able to list TEN tags, up from 3, of things they don’t want to see

• Gamers now have the choice of omitting certain developers and publishers, as well as excluding “mature content” and “adults only” games - the former will exclude games where the publisher hasn’t told Steam exactly what that “mature content” is

• The idea is to balance keeping Steam an open platform while promoting user choice - what do you guys think about this?

British Airways suffers huge data breach

Source 1: SC2Mitch https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/969161-british-airways-suffers-a-data-breach-affecting-380000-people-payment-details-etc-stolen/

Source 2: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45440850

 

• An unknown attacker carried out a “sophisticated breach” of British Airways security

• The hacker exposed 380,000 transactions and compromised customers’ financial information, though not their travel plans.

• Their CEO has promised to compensate anyone who suffers financial loss due to the hack - customers affected have already been notified and BA even took out newspaper ads apologizing

• Funnily enough, British Airways was in talks with IBM to outsource their security briefly before the cyberattack, perhaps to cut costs

 

Leaked benchmark shows off i7-9700K

Source 1: https://www.techspot.com/news/76269-intel-core-i7-9700k-tips-up-geekbench.html

Source 2: https://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/121925-heres-intel-core-i7-9700k-scores-geekbench/

• The i7-9700K, at the top of the Coffee Lake Refresh i7 stack, looks pretty impressive on Geekbench

• It outscored the previous gen 8700K in both single and multi-core performance, despite the fact it has fewer threads.

• It does, however, have more cores. The 8700K is a six core 12 thread part, while the 9700K has 8 single-threaded cores.

• The 9700K also has about a 20 percent lead in single-core performance over Ryzen 2700X, and is very close to it in multi-core - interesting considering the 2700X has twice as many threads.

 

AT&T offers first responders unlimited data...but there’s a catch

Source 1: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/7/17831170/att-unlimited-plan-deal-first-responders-throttle

Source 2: https://www.slashgear.com/att-launches-unlimited-plan-deal-with-perks-for-first-responders-06544756/

 

• Police, paramedics, and firefighters, and their families, are getting 25 percent off unlimited plans through AT&T

• However, the plan is still subject to throttling - AT&T says this can happen in the event the network is congested

• Although this might be fine when they’re off-duty, first responders who want or need a plan without having to worry about throttling would need to use a separate network called FirstNet which the US government contracted AT&T to build

• If a local police, fire, or EMS department doesn’t use FirstNet, they could be subject to throttling, which is exactly what happened with Verizon last summer as they throttled the data of firefighters who were trying to put out wildfires - a huge problem as they were using mobile data to route and track resources.

 

EA being sued by victim of Jacksonville Madden tournament shooting

Source 1: https://kotaku.com/jacksonville-shooting-victim-sues-ea-and-venue-1828743217

Source 2: https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/victim-of-jacksonville-shooting-is-suing-ea-over-negligence/

 

• After a shooting that left two dead at a Madden NFL tournament in Jacksonville, FL the other week, one survivor is suing EA, who produces the game

• His theory of the case is that EA, who sponsored the tournament, negligently did not pick a safe venue or provide adequate security

• It’s unclear how much the plaintiff is seeking in monetary damages. EA has already promised to donate one million dollars to the victims

• The lawsuit notes that the area around the venue has suffered from other shootings as well as stabbings in recent years, but seeing as the shooter was a Madden player from out-of-town, it will be interesting to see if that argument holds any water in court

• The shopping mall and the restaurant where the shooting took place are also being named as defendants

 

U.S. thinks it knows individual behind Sony attack

Source 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/us/politics/north-korea-sony-hack-wannacry-indictment.html

Source 2: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/6/17826722/north-korea-sony-hack-wannacry-charges

• The US Department of Justice has placed sanctions on Park Jin-hyok, an alleged North Korean operative

• Although the US had publicly been accusing the North Korean government for some time of being behind both the Sony attack in 2014 and the WannaCry ransomware that made headlines last year, the DoJ is just now naming specific names.

• Park is accused of using a fake company that was a front for the NK regime to carry out the schemes

• The Sony attack left the company crippled as more than half its servers had their data erased, plus lots of private communications were stolen - the motive is believed to be anger over the comedy film “The Interview” that mocks Kim Jong-un

• The hacking team is also accused of attacking Britain’s NHS and stealing over 80 million US dollars from the central bank of Bangladesh

• Although he is on the FBI’s most wanted list, the US government does not have him in custody

 

Forza Horizon 4 specs announced

Source 1: https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/forza-horizon-4-minimum-and-recommended-pc-requirements-revealed/

Source 2: https://www.game-debate.com/news/25680/forza-horizon-4-pc-system-requirements-hit-the-road

 

• Forza Horizon 4 has been anticipated for a while, and the recommended specs are now out

• Although for 1080p60, Microsoft recommends either a GTX 970 or 1060, OR a 290X or RX 470 - which isn’t too bad these days - the game DOES want a full 12 gigs of system RAM.

• However, you could also get away with a GT 740 even if you just want to play at 720p.

• The respirements are more or less the same as Horizon 3, despite the fact that there were some noticeable graphical improvements when the game was shown at E3 - welcome news even for racing games which typically aren’t QUITE as punishing as other titles

[mikedrewsmy]

Athlon + Vega.

 

How good can it run Battlefield 5 @ 720p?

My 8086K with UHD 630 can run those at 25-30fps 

I'm more afraid of CPU bottlenecking on that cpu.

[Giiman95]

@LinusTech Hope you guys are having a great time! Missed you on the show tonight.

@Slick Nice Job 'flying' solo tonight.

Get it, flying??? Floatplane 

[mikedrewsmy]

6 minutes ago, Giiman95 said:

@LinusTech Hope you guys are having a great time! Missed you on the show tonight.

@Slick Nice Job 'flying' solo tonight.

Get it, flying??? Floatplane 

@Slick is HanSolo

[trufflemadhu]

Could have named it WAN Solo.. but it is LUKE and not Hans.. too many options for puns!

[JoostinOnline]

This was such a lonely show.

[Radium_Angel]

11 hours ago, LinusTech said:

• Although Windows 7 extended support is scheduled to go through January 2020, you now have an option to extend it to 2023

• However, you’ll have to pay a fee for the additional security patches. No details available yet on pricing.

This is excellent news, assuming it turns out to be true.

 

11 hours ago, LinusTech said:

Tons of people are still running Windows 7 for various reasons, whether they be ease of use, stability, or compatibility with certain programs.

The main reason? MS hasn't released an OS better than Win7.

 

11 hours ago, LinusTech said:

We feel this might be a consequence of Microsoft failing to get people to migrate to Win10 as quickly as they would have liked

That's because the new OS sucks rocks.

[3 Lions]

You learn something new everyday. Never knew Banff was named by Scottish guy who was born in Banff,Aberdeenshire,Scotland. It's amazing how much the Brits and Scots influenced Canada.  

Edited September 8, 2018 by LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo

[Egg-Roll]

This isn't the WAN show this is the Luke Show

 

9 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

This is excellent news, assuming it turns out to be true.

Windows XP all over again... Not like I can blame people... Windows 10 sucks.

[geo3]

Gah. Are you just letting the streamed video become the vod automatically? You should upload the high quality master instead. Cause this and the last show's video quality are trash. The frame rate looks janky and there are terrible compression artifacts around the edges of things.

[AdmiralKird]

How to Fix Windows 10:

Redesign the OS' structure to allow for the installation of updates without causing the computer to lock up for extended periods of time between reboots, restarts, and shutdowns. With all the gains of SSD's, faster ram, processors... users shouldn't have to have their startup time returned to Windows 95 levels through poor software design.

[YaBoiWill]

The ex-head of GCHQ (British cyber-security geezers) said that the breach of BA was most likely a 3rd party beach that handled payment details, because they have the cvv numbers of cards. These are only used by companies to authorise a payment, and aren't stored So he things that is was something malicious about the payment detail pages. 

[imbrock]

Anyone else unable to get this episode (and the previous episode) to download?

 

I keep getting "error 403 server is refusing to respond to the request." only for this podcast. I've tried unsubbing and resubbing and resetting the podcast data. I'm only getting it with the wan show, and only with these two episodes, every episode before those two works perfectly, even the is gaming on windows dead episode.

 

I'm running android 8.0.0 using podcast addict to download.